This mosaic portrayal of its author's native Lebanon besieged by civil war in fact expands into a generalized examination of the chaos and despair suffered by families everywhere during wartime ... (I)n the tale of Widad the Circassian peasant girl who becomes the beloved wife of the wealthy merchant who 'buys' her, (Khoury) creates a stingingly dramatic tale. -- Kirkus Reviews

Translated by: Paula Haydar